Morphometric traits and stepwise regression of indigenous sheep in southwestern region, Ethiopia

Abstract

This research was carried out to characterize differences in morphometric features and assess the effectiveness of various linear body measures in forecasting the live weight of local sheep grown in Bench Sheko zone, southwestern Ethiopia. Purposive followed by random sampling procedures were used, to choose the potential samples. Qualitative trait, body weight, and linear body measurements were taken from 660 sheep. Plain (69.8%) and patchy (16.7%) coat color patterns were predominant in both districts. The bulk of the sheep in the research locations had narrow tails, short hair, horned males, dark red coat colors, Cylindrical and turned up at the tip tail shape, straight head and back profile, and sloping rump profile. Live weight and linear body measurements are significantly influenced by age, sex, sex-age interaction, and location. The mean body weight, heart girth, wither height, body length, ear length, tail length, rump height, rump length, rump width, and scrotal circumference were, 28.4 ± 0.15 cm, 75.5 ± 0.18 cm, 64.0 ± 0.12 cm, 62.8 ± 0.14 cm, 11.1 ± 0.06 cm, 28.2 ± 0.20 cm, 64.8 ± 0.12 cm, 20.8 ± 0.05 cm, 16.6 ± 0.06 cm and 26.1 ± 0.16 cm respectively. Heart girth was the best correlated with the sheep of different age class in both the districts. The greatest predictor of body weight (BW) was heart girth (HG) along with other linear body measurements. Therefore, HG was found to be the most significant factor influencing the bulk of the changes in BW, indicating that it could be utilized as a valid estimator for the sheep breed investigated. Genetic improvement must be prioritized since indigenous sheep in the study area have a large body frame.